Why Help Desk Software…Helps
Help desk software is a necessary improvement in customer support. Service that relies on direct phone contact is inefficient and unpleasant. Effort is wasted when call representatives must handle a multitude of questions without prior information, in a process repeated with each customer. Any information sought by caller support is done after the fact, through multiple spreadsheets and databases with a pen and paper. Perhaps another phone call has to be made to clarify certain information, and the customer is delayed even longer.
Alternatively, help desk software takes advantage of available customer information to give immediately personalized support. The design of help desk software makes for more efficient data centers that pull up relevant, organized customer information. Web-based help desk software with cloud computing can retrieve this information quickly from single locations. Regular errors brought up by frequent customer calls can be tracked more easily. These efficiency solutions reduce costs and the number of representatives required to manage the help desk.
Help desk software also brings in new tools and ways of support. Additional, web-based media can aid customers: email, video, graphics. Menial, software-based support, like software updates, is readily given. Online business portals allow for self-service, automatic updates, customer postings, comments, and even social networking connectivity.
1 commentMatrix42 Finds 80% of Organizations Would Likely Use Self-Help Portals for Data Migration
Matrix42, a company providing client lifecycle and IT service management, announced a survey study of theirs concluded that 80% of companies would be deploying user-self-help portals for software requests and/or IT services.
The survey specifically asked participants whether their organization would allow end-users to begin Windows 7 migration themselves, through a self-help portal, and of the 126 participants, 101 answered in the affirmative. Self-help portals would offer companies cost savings, yet their deployment is currently not possible in Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM).
Microsoft SCCM is typically employed for inventory, software distribution, and management of end nodes, but survey respondents suggested their IT departments need more flexibility and functionality. Martix42 announced survey results through a press release, and though their motivation in doing so is to hawk their IT-Commerce suite—which allows users to “redefine†how IT departments interact with their customers—the survey findings are still interesting.
Matrix42 was founded in 1992, and by technology standards is not a young company, and they seem to have carved a decent niche in the self-help portal market. We’re curious to see if they generate some serious competition this year with these kinds of surveys. Only time will tell!
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